UNDER THE DOME: Neal Baer Teases Season 2

UNDER THE DOME is back tonight with a very special season premiere — Stephen King (who wrote the book the CBS series was based on) is penning the hour.

“Stephen writing the episode is really sending us off into a place that he feels really proud of and really loves and it’s his kind of ideas of how to go beyond the book,” UNDER THE DOME showrunner Neal Baer told reporters last month during a panel for the series. “And so that’s really special for us to have Stephen launch us this season. And…what’s better than having kitchen appliances and barbecues come to life? That’s so Stephen King.”

As the season 2 premiere plays out, a few familiar faces will meet their end (and one death is particularly violent), but some newbies will be joining the show to make up for the losses.

“We’ve got Eddie Cahill coming on as San Verdreaux, who is Big Jim’s brother-in-law who has been a recluse for ten years after his sister died and was an alcoholic,” Baer teased. “We have Karla Crome coming on as Rebecca Pine, who is a school teacher, so we can have the science, really getting into the science versus faith elements this season. And we really pursue that because Rebecca represents scientific explanations for what’s going on versus Rachelle’s character, Julia, who is really much more about faith and Big Jim is kind of in the middle trying to figure it out.”

“We have Grace Victoria Cox who is the young woman Julia…[pulls] out of the water [in the premiere],” he continued. “She is a pivotal character whose connection — particularly why she came out of the water, what she was doing there — will be revealed. And we have Sherry Stringfield [playing an important character], my dear friend I worked with on ER, we and have a reunion this year because Eric LaSalle will be directing Sherry in episode ten this year. So we are excited about that.”